Anyone running htpc / MP with a Gigabyte I-RAM (1 Viewer)

[Nightmare77]

Just wondering if anyone has there HTPC running with I-RAM , if so how do you find the results on bootup and speed of MP?
Thanks

 

[Efros]

Now that would be interesting to see.

 

[ASiDiE]

Please give us the lowdown on I-Ram. I am assuming this is using your hardware ram as a harddrive..... or something like that.

 

[Callifo]

The newer I-Ram2 lets you use DDR2 (up to 16gb) to use as a hdd. It has a backup battery so you dont loose you drive contents. Uses a SATA2 connection to connect it up.

Read/Writes access times are literally instant and for speed it matches quad hdd Raid0 setups. Very nice way to spend $1000.

 

[Efros]

Even a 4Gb setup is going to cost you at least 400 dollars.

 

[Nightmare77]

yeah its still kind of a pricey way of doing it but according to the specs on the web it may be cool if you can fork at the 600 odd dollars you need for one.
O and a link for anyone to have a look at
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1/gigabyte-iram/index.x?pg=1

and a video of it in action for windows bootup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PiYgBhAkAM&search=gigabyte i-RAM

 

[infinite.loop]

i have tested it.
MP loads a little bit quicker, but thats it.

i.e. Battlefield2 or WinXP loads a lot faster.

next gen will support more than 4GB.

But you will need a UPS or all data will be gone. The included Battery is only able to keep the data for a few minutes if you unplug the PC.

i-ram is a nice idea and shows us the greatest problem of modern computers. not the CPU, not the GPU, not the FSB, not the RAM, its the weak performance of the HDDs that makes our PCs slow.

but wait for hybridHDDs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_drive

test i-ram:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/07/can_gigabyte/

test HyperOs:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/05/hyperos_dram_hard_drive_on_the_block/

 

[Efros]

Not an Iram but I bought a compact flash IDE interface the other day for $8 (!!!!) and I am going to pick up a biggish CF card over the next couple of weeks and try an install, this is not a serious attempt at an MP install just something to play with. Yes I do know of the read/write limtiation of CF memory, I just want to play!

 

[JackTramiel]

AW: Anyone running htpc / MP with a Gigabyte I-RAM

Just bought a iRam drive today. Still got some ddr ram modules around, so i will give it a try.
But i will use it as timeshift drive only. 4 GB isnt much space, but as fas as i understood it will provide
around 25 minutes hd timeshift. Thats enough for me.
And if it doesnt work out - back to ebay.

EDIT: FAIL! Got no more free SATA slots. So need one more SATA card, too. Damn.